


Hold the line, please

by Estelle



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: Customer Service & Tech Support, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-30
Updated: 2016-05-30
Packaged: 2018-07-11 04:12:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7028059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Estelle/pseuds/Estelle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When the words appeared on his arm on this eighteenth birthday, Eames counted himself lucky. “Inception, you’re speaking to Arthur, how can I help?”<br/>Should be easy to find him, shouldn't it? Turns out it isn't.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hold the line, please

**Author's Note:**

  * For [CaptainKenway](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainKenway/gifts).



> I wanted to write something for "Take your fandom to work Day" for ages, even though I don't actually know when it is, and then I thought about Soulmate AUs where the first words your soulmate says to you are on skin, and thought that them being on the phone would count, right? And then CaptainKenway said "What if it's a complaint?", so here we go :) Enjoy!

When the words appeared on his arm on this eighteenth birthday, Eames counted himself lucky. _“Inception, you’re speaking to Arthur, how can I help?”_ Not only did they include his soulmate’s name, but also a clue on how to find him. Eames was unperturbed that it was a guy, he had already come to terms with liking girls and boys both, and besides, platonic soulmates were quite common as well. He was more concerned that a company or anything called “Inception” didn’t seem to exist. Because his words sounded like some kind of customer service or tech support or something, right? So of course he tried to find out how to contact the company, to get in touch with Arthur.  
Years later, he still hadn’t had any luck.

~*~*~

Arthur worked in customer service. Not because he loved the idea of spending hours on the phone trying to explain to impatient, annoyed or just plainly stupid people that what they were trying to do was impossible, but because his friend Cobb had asked. When he had started the company years ago, he had needed help, and Arthur would never have thought that it would grow as much as it had.  
He was on the seventh hour of his twelve hour shift, and it had been a tedious day, but when the phone rang he answered “Inception, you’re speaking to Arthur, how can I help?”in the most cheerful voice he could manage.  
He was greeted with “Listen, arsehole, I don’t know how you could be so stupid and fuck this up, but you better fix it quickly!” in a distinctively British and distinctively pissed-off voice.  
Momentarily, Arthur was too surprised to answer. Not because of the insult, he was actually quite used to that, but because he knew these exact words by heart. He had spent hours staring at them, wondering what he had done to deserve a soulmate who hated him on sight. Apparently, deciding to work in customer service had been his mistake.  
“What?”, he answered belatedly, which seemed to agitate the guy even further. “I said, arsehole, that you fix this!”, he repeated, and now Arthur was getting angry himself. It wasn’t good customer service, but he just couldn’t help himself. He had been the one to have to live with an insult on his arm after all.  
“Right, because “Listen, arsehole, I don’t know how you could be so stupid and fuck this up, but you better fix it quickly” is what you greet your soulmate with? Great, I feel so lucky, thank you very much!”, he shot back, and really hoped this call wouldn’t be picked to be evaluated in the monthly call quality meeting.  
It did seem to shut the other guy up, though, because now he was greeted with silence and then a hesitant “Wait, I… did you say your name was Arthur?”  
“Should be on your arm, shouldn’t it?”, he remarked icily.  
“Oh my God! Oh God, I completely fucked this up, didn’t I? Darling, I’m so sorry! I tried to find you all this time, and now… oh God…”  
The other guy sounded genuinely upset now and despite himself, Arthur had to grin. “Went from “arsehole” to “darling” pretty quickly, didn’t you?”, he teased, and the line went quiet for a moment again.  
“Fuck, sorry, I just… tell me how I can make this up to you? Please?”  
Arthur was still grinning. “Why don’t you tell me what your problem with “Inception” is, nicely, without any swearing, and the we figure out how you can make this up to me in person?”  
He was feeling a bit giddy. He had just found his soulmate, and he was really curious to find out what kind of person he was when he wasn’t insulting innocent customer service agents.

~*~*~

Eames was nervous. Really, really nervous. He couldn’t believe his first words to his soulmates had been an insult, especially not when he had spent so much time trying to find him. He knew now that “Inception” was a fairly new company, and it was also US based, where Eames had never really considered looking, always thinking that his soulmate would be close to home.  
It was only now, on his holiday to New York, that it occurred to him what a stupid thought that was.  
He really, really hoped that Arthur would let him make it up to him. But then, why would he? He had been a terribly person, shouting at him like that, not even realising that Arthur had just said the words he had always wanted to hear.  
Frankly, he was surprised that Arthur had even proposed meeting him. Of course, they were soulmates, and Arthur was probably curious about him, but it wasn’t unheard of that soulmates didn’t work out.  
Eames sighed, shifting in his seat. He was currently waiting at a coffee shop apparently not far from Arthur’s workplace.  
He was still trying to work out what he could possibly say to make amends to Arthur, when the door opened and the most gorgeous man he had ever seen stepped in. He was dressed in a sharp suit that hugged his figure just right, and his dark hair looked impossibly soft.  
Oh God, if that was Arthur, he was so screwed.  
There was no way in hell a man like that would want to be with Eames, soulmate or not. Eames didn’t consider himself ugly, but he was nothing compared to that man, and besides he couldn’t even claim to be charming when he had already made such an arsehole out of himself.  
The man scanned the room, and his eyes settled on Eames, stepping towards his table.  
“Eames?”, he asked, and the man quickly got up, offering his hand. “It is lovely to meet you, darling!”  
Arthur’s eyebrows rose up, but he still shook is hand. “I see you’ve found some manners. You do not seem to be having any sense of fashion though”, he remarked, giving Eames a quick once-over.  
Despite still being nervous, Eames grinned. “I don’t see anything wrong with paisley!”  
“Then you truly are beyond help.” Arthur shook his head, but a small smile was playing at his lips, which reassured Eames immensely.  
“Let me buy you a drink, love, and then maybe we can discuss how I can make up for my terrible rudeness?”, Eames proposed, getting serious, and Arthur actually grinned.  
“Oh, I think I have a few ideas about that”, he replied, looking him over again slowly, and Eames couldn’t help but grin back. He counted himself very lucky indeed.

~*~*~

Not much later, Arthur found himself pressed to his apartment’s hallway wall, with Eames sucking a bruise to his neck, one hand in his hair, the other on his ass.  
“You know, I’m still mad at you for insulting me”, he panted, dropping his hands to Eames hips to pull him closer.  
Eames dragged his teeth down Arthur’s neck. “Whatever you say, darling!”  
And damn, the endearment really shouldn’t be this arousing, but paired with Eames’ English accent, Arthur really couldn’t help himself.  
He wasn’t planning on making this easy for Eames though, although he supposed their current situation pretty much indicated that he was very pleased with the proceedings.  
“You’re also wearing too many clothes”, he kept complaining, and Eames chuckled. “Patience, love, we’ll get there!”  
“I don’t want to have patience, I want you inside me, rather sooner than later!” Arthur demanded, and Eames drew back to look him in the eyes, momentarily speechless.  
“Unless you’d rather have it the other way round? I’m flexible, I’m down for both”, he conceded and Eames shook his head. “No, I… I mean, I like both as well, I just didn’t think you’d let me… God, you’re perfect!”  
He pulled Arthur into a passionate kiss, and Arthur hummed his agreement, before kissing back just as fiercely.  
Yeah, his soulmate seemed to be a bit of an asshole, but Arthur would grant him lots of time to make up for it. Preferably forever.

**Author's Note:**

> PS: Please don't be rude to the customer service agent! Your query will be resolved a lot quicker when you're nice. If you're an arsehole to us, we will be an arsehole to you in all the little ways we can. Thank you!


End file.
